Our Team
Grant Wilson
Executive Director
Grant Wilson, Esq., is the Executive Director of Earth Law Center. He is an expert on the Rights of Nature, ecocentric law, and international environmental law. For the last decade, he has defended the rights and interests of Nature all over the world, including by co-drafting legal instruments recognizing the rights of nature. He is a co-lead editor of the seminal Earth Law textbook, Earth Law: Emerging Ecocentric Law—A Guide for Practitioners (Wolters Kluwer, 2021). He is also a member of the World Commission on Environmental Law and the UN Harmony with Nature Initiative. Grant earned a J.D. with a Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law from Lewis & Clark Law School.
Rachel Bustamante
Ocean Program Director
Rachel Bustamante is the Ocean Program Director at Earth Law Center. With a background as an experienced ocean policy analyst and a passionate Gen-Z advocate, she is dedicated to identifying intersectional and ethical solutions to advance justice and care for this blue planet. Rooted in the profound connection between humanity and the ocean, Rachel leads projects and is deeply interested in plastic pollution, shark conservation, and Ocean Rights. Her research is featured in publications like PLOS Biology and Sustainability. Rachel holds a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Maryland.
Irikefe V. Dafe
Africa Lead
Irikefe V. Dafe has advocated for river protections in Nigeria and throughout Africa for three decades. Much of his work has focused on protecting the River Ethiope and the rights of communities who rely upon the river for food, water, and their livelihoods. He is a lead organizer of the First National Dialogue on Rights of Nature in Nigeria. He is also the founder and CEO of River Ethiope Trust Foundation and an expert member of the UN Harmony with Nature Initiative.
Elizabeth M. Dunne
Director of Legal Advocacy
Elizabeth M. Dunne, Esq., brings 20 years of legal experience and a passion for designing legal frameworks that enable systemic change. She has advanced many of the groundbreaking Rights of Nature laws in the US and co-authored the US Chapter of the first Earth Law textbook - Zelle et al. (Eds.), Earth Law: Emerging Ecocentric Law—A Guide for Practitioners (Aspen Coursebook, Wolters Kluwer 2020). The story of her former client Grant Township’s fight against a frack waste injection well, based in part on the state constitutional right to a clean and healthy environment, is featured in the award winning documentary, Invisible Hand (www.invisiblehandfilm.com). She specializes in drafting laws for Tribal Nations, state and local governments, and ballot initiatives. Drawing on her experience as lead counsel in public interest class action lawsuits and as a law clerk to US federal District Court judges, Elizabeth is a leading practitioner in the development of litigation strategies that advance Earth Law.
Constanza Prieto Figelist
Latin America Legal Director
Constanza is founder and director of the Latin America Legal Program at ELC. As a lawyer, she is a leading expert on the Rights of Nature, mainly focused on protecting and conserving rivers and marine ecosystems in the Americas. She specializes in drafting ecocentric legislation, collaborating with local organizations and governments, and advising decision makers on regional legislative projects, with successful campaigns in more than five countries in the region. Constanza studied law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso (Chile) and has a master’s degree in private international law and international trade from the Pathéon-Assas University in Paris (France), and a master’s degree in environmental and energy law from New York University. She has been honored by International Rivers as one of the most outstanding Women River Defenders.
Herman Greene
Thomas Berry Scholar-in-Residence
Herman is President of the Center for Ecozoic Studies, in addition to being a corporate, tax, and securities lawyer. He holds degrees in Spirituality and Sustainability, Law, Ministry, and Political Science.
Kelsey Leonard
Director of Water Advocacy
Dr. Kelsey Leonard is a water scientist and Indigenous legal scholar with expertise in transboundary water governance and international water policy-making. Her recent scholarship explores legal personhood for water and her TEDTalk “Why lakes and rivers should have the same rights as humans” has nearly 3 million views. Dr. Leonard has been instrumental in safeguarding the interests of Indigenous Nations for environmental planning, and builds Indigenous science and knowledge into new solutions for water governance and sustainable oceans. Dr. Leonard received her A.B. in Sociology and Anthropology with honors from Harvard University, a MSc in Water Science, Policy and Management from the University of Oxford, a JD from Duquesne University, and PhD in Political Science from McMaster University.
Bastián Núñez
A graduate in law from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (Chile) in 2022, Bastián is a young, talented, and passionate jurist with a strong interest in environmental protection and international law. He has experience working on the Rights of Nature, having participated in the campaign for its recognition in Chile's 2022 constitutional process and interned with ELC’s Latin America Legal Program. As Legal Counsel and Researcher, Bastián supports the team's Amicus Curiae process, as well as the development of workshops, presentations, and other products for academic, institutional, and territorial activities. Bastián works to expand ELC’s projects in the South Cone Region and helps galvanize new projects and fundraising for ELC in Chile.
Legal Counsel & Researcher
Alexandra Pimor
Alexandra leads on the Nature On The Board project, a pioneering endeavour to expand the scope of Rights of Nature across legal systems, corporate boards, and any decision-making body to foster a global Nature/Earth-based governance praxis. A published scholar with over 20 years’ experience in pedagogical engineering, Ally started her career as a senior law lecturer in the UK. She is a certified Scrum Master, certified professional agile facilitator & systems coach, and founder of SoaNoia. Besides her role at ELC, she is also a non-executive director at RiseUP (Europe) CIC; an executive member of the Spirituality Scholars Network; an executive associate of the Natural Arts Associations (Wales); a professional volunteer at Notre Affaire à Tous (contributor to “Les Droits de la Nature”); and at Rights & Humanity (International).
Director of Global Nature Governance
F. Javier Ruiz
Expert in Environmental Policy and Climate Change
Javier is an environmental lawyer working on issues in environmental law, climate change, and the environmental rights of Nature defenders. An expert on the Rights of Nature, he supports legal cases through the formulation of amicus curiae briefs and provides specialized advice for litigation to Latin American organizations and groups. He contributes to the drafting of ecocentric legislation for ELC's Latin America Legal Program. Javier is also a member of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law. In the academic field, he has conducted courses on the Rights of Nature, non-human animal rights, and access to environmental justice at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, and elsewhere. Javier leads ELC’s work on implementing the Escazú Agreement by participating in the negotiations of the Escazú Agreement Conferences of the Parties.
Pooja Sharma
Pooja Sharma is a social enterprise attorney and Rights of Nature advocate based in Los Angeles, CA. Pooja transitioned into advocating for the Earth when she came to understand that our planet, our Home, needed more voices to protect and restore itself to its natural state. Pooja co-leads Strategy, Operations, and Planning on the Nature Governance team at Earth Law Center, where she executes the build out of corporate governance with Nature at the forefront. Pooja also counsels nonprofits and social enterprises on corporate law matters at Generate Purpose, develops legal advocacy initiatives and oversees the KSA Fellowship Program at Keystone Species Alliance, and builds impact litigation cases for the California environment and the public health of its citizens.
Co-Lead, Nature Governance
Ciara Shea
Ciara Shea, Esq., is a leading specialist on the right to a healthy environment and contributor to the Earth Law Portal. In addition to being a licensed Attorney in New York, she is also a functional nutritionist and holistic health and wellness expert, having run her own clinical practice since 2016 while simultaneously co-hosting a successful podcast on holistic living. This unique blend of skills anchors Ciara in the ideal position to legally advocate for the human right to a healthy environment. Ciara received her J.D. and certificate in Mediation from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law and holds her B.A. in Speech Communication with a minor in Legal Studies from Ithaca College. She currently lives on Long Island, NY.
Right to a Healthy Environment Lead
Kevin Schneider
Kevin Schneider, Esq., is Counsel to the Earth Law Center. Based in New York City, Kevin is admitted to practice in New York and the United States District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. For over a decade, Kevin has worked on extending legal rights to animals and ecosystems. He represented an elephant named Happy (Supreme Court, Bronx County) alongside a team of lawyers in a historic habeas corpus case from 2018-22, culminating in a first-of-its-kind argument before the New York State Court of Appeals. Among other publications, Kevin wrote a chapter on common law animal rights for the textbook “Earth Law” (Wolters Kluwer, 2021). Kevin has delivered guest lectures to undergraduate and law students at leading institutions including Harvard, Yale, and New York University.
Counsel
Lucy Ward
Lucy Ward is an Earth law advocate and Nature-conscious governance practitioner based in London. She trained as a marine biologist and began her career working on habitat restoration solutions and leading legal research teams. Lucy co-leads the Strategy, Operations and Planning on the Nature Governance team, where she executes the design and implementation of Nature-conscious Governance principles and practices. Lucy also forwards the Earth Law Centers work by contributing to education on Earth law topics, facilitating the running of the Centers summer course and creation of Earth law modules in the UK. Her work also focuses on on-the-ground solutions, through IntelliReefs, where she forwards the application of the proprietary reef building material Oceanite, and its multitude of uses in habitat restoration. Lucy works to develop innovative solutions for how to align and incorporate the flow of wisdom into legal advancements, cultural evolution and decision-making in the business world.
Co-Lead, Nature Governance
Anthony R. Zelle
As an Earth lawyer, Tony started by writing and editing the first law school coursebook on the subject. He began his Earth law career after 30 years in private practice, trying cases and arguing appeals. His work focused on consumer protection and insurance laws. He led the board of the Earth Law Center from 2018 through 2021 and now serves as ELC’s general counsel. His current practice is focused on rights of future generations, intergenerational leadership development, the duties of humankind to nonhuman species and individual animals, and the engagement of private practice law firms who will drive Earth law into the mainstream.
Director of Education and General Counsel
Operations Staff
Heather Robertson
Organizational Strategist and Partnership Manager
Heather has two decades of experience in strategic planning, organization design & transformation, leadership development, online communications, and partnership cultivation & management. Over the last 15 years, she has worked with nonprofits and private companies to achieve real innovation and impact without burning out from limitations of time, energy, and resources. Heather is passionate about the well-being of our planet, education, women's leadership, and the power of meditation, which together provide her with unique approaches and an understanding of what ELC requires for the future.
Lulu Robles
Lulu Robles is a Mexican content creator and social media specialist. With a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies, she has collaborated with diverse businesses in Canada, Mexico, and the USA to craft compelling strategies and engaging content. From creating captivating videos and photos to designing eye-catching designs, Lulu is very passionate about storytelling through visuals. She has completed several diplomas related to cinema and storytelling, including NYU’s 'Film Essentials' and Young Screenwriters: Writing the Short. She is working to elevate the voice of Nature through Earth Law Center’s social media and online presence.
Social Media Coordinator
Matt Zepelin
As Operations Manager at Earth Law Center, Matt Zepelin writes grants, oversees the internship & volunteer program, works with tech systems, and coordinates various internal and external processes. Matt holds a PhD in American history from the University of Colorado, Boulder and has a professional background in book publishing, nonprofit administration (former co-director of the Boulder Zen Center), and somatic education. As an editor at Shambhala Publications, he acquired and edited environmental books including A Wild Love for the World: Joanna Macy and the Work of Our Time, A Future We Can Love, and Green Buddhism. He lives with his wife and daughter near ELC’s headquarters in Durango, Colorado.
Operations Manager
Advisory Team
Myra L. Jackson
Myra Jackson is a retired electrical engineer who has designed and delivered seminar courses on business management, emotional intelligence, and heart coherence techniques at Harvard, Stanford, USC, UCSF, UCSD, Rockefeller University, and Duke University. In 2006, Myra shifted her focus to global policy on the climate crisis, and in 2015, she participated in the UN Open Working Group that determined the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Ms. Jackson currently serves on the United Nations Expert Platform on Harmony with Nature and is a delegate to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. She consults collaborative groups of governments, higher education, companies, utilities, and communities developing responses to sustain their rivers and regional environments.
UN Representative and Focal Point
Jonathon Keats is an experimental philosopher, artist, and writer whose transdisciplinary projects explore all aspects of nature, adapting methods from the sciences and the humanities as well as legal practices. He has lectured and exhibited at dozens of institutions worldwide, from Stanford University to SXSW to UNESCO. He is the author of six books, most recently You Belong to the Universe: Buckminster Fuller and the Future, published by Oxford University Press. Keats is currently a research associate at the University of Arizona’s Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill, a visiting scholar at San Jose State University’s CADRE Laboratory for New Media, and an artist-in-residence at both the SETI Institute and UC San Francisco’s Memory and Aging Center.
Principal Philosopher
Jonathon Keats
Marsha Moutrie
Marsha Moutrie is an attorney who has practiced in the public, private and nonprofit sectors since 1975, when she graduated from UCLA Law School. In 2016, she retired from government employment after serving for 22 years as the City Attorney of Santa Monica, California, where she headed the city's in-house law office and was responsible for all of the city's legal matters. Her work included writing and enforcing a wide variety of laws, including many environmental laws. In 2013, she wrote the City's Sustainability Rights Ordinance, which recognizes and codifies the fundamental and inalienable right of natural communities and ecosystems to exist and flourish.
Senior Counsel
Board of Directors
Missy Lahren
Missy Lahren has worked as an activist and public interest lawyer in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1993. She has an M.Ed. in Integral Education and a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Religion both of which focus on the emerging field of “ecozoic education.” She has been working to expand enforceable human and ecological rights since 1997 through participatory media and board positions at Unite for Rights, Planetary Advocates, and Eleanor Lives.
Chair
Rachelle Adam
Rachelle has 25 years of experience in Rights of Nature legal issues. As an attorney for Israel’s Environment Ministry, she worked extensively on nature protection and biodiversity issues.
Secretary
Elvir Causevic
Dr. Causevic is a recognized technology and IP investment banking professional focused on public and private board advisory, M&A, capital formation, and financial restructuring of technology and IP businesses. Over the past 20 years, Dr. Causevic founded and ran several high technology companies focused on signal acquisition, processing and communication hardware and software. He also has a J.D. degree from University of California Hastings College of the Law and is an avid student of Earth law. Dr. Causevic was born in Bosnia and now lives in San Francisco.
Treasurer
Felipe Clavijo-Ospina
Felipe Clavijo-Ospina is a Constitutional lawyer and professor with 15+ years of experience in constitutional and environmental affairs. He has served as an advisor of the Inspector-Attorney General and as a former law clerk at the Constitutional Court of Colombia where he led the way towards a new constitutional interpretation to protect Nature as a legal entity. Author of A rights revolution for Nature.
Member
Brandon Hubbard
Brandon brings expertise with a Degree in Marketing and a career in Advertising, focusing on media, storytelling with data, and sales. He's also an advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion as a member of Comscore's EDI Alliance and Co-founder of an employee resource group for minorities.
Vice Chair
Corinne Sanders
Corinne Sanders, OP, is Director of the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Office of Sustainability, where she has coordinated projects such as the installation of a solar array and the Permaculture Garden on the motherhouse campus.